El Muerto
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| El Muerto | |
 "Dia de los Muertos" limited edition print Art by Javier Hernandez |
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| Publication information | |
|---|---|
| Publisher | Los Comex |
| First appearance | El Muerto: Numero Uno Edition (1998) |
| Created by | Javier Hernandez |
| In story information | |
| Alter ego | Diego de la Muerte (born Juan Diego de la Muerte) |
| Species | Human "Zombie" |
| Notable aliases | Diego Juan Diego The Aztec Zombie The Dead One The Fearless Flatliner Boy Cadaver The Graveyard Guardian Dead-Head EMO |
| Abilities | Has the ability to give life or take it away, Superhuman strength and agility, Resistant to damage/Near invulnerability, Regenerative healing factor |
El Muerto: The Aztec Zombie (The Dead One) is a fictional independent comic book superhero created by American comics creator Javier Hernandez and published through his own imprint Los Comex.The comic book follows the story of 21-year-old Mexican-American Diego de la Muerte, who while on his way to a local Dia de los Muertos festival in Whittier, California, is abducted and sacrificed by the Aztec gods of death and destiny only to return to earth one year later with supernatural powers. The character made his first appearance in a xeroxed black and white preview comic titled Daze of the Dead: The Numero Uno Edition in 1998.[1] The original comic was later reprinted as El Muerto: King Size in 2002 under a newly formed imprint called Big Umbrella. The imprint disbanded sometime in 2003, citing troubles in the market-place. Despite the break-up, the creators remain close friends often collaborating on their independent works. The initial series of El Muerto was met with critical success and the character's popularity has led to several adaptations in other media[2] including a live-action award-winning independent film starring Wilmer Valderrama.[3][4][5][6]
Contents |
[edit] Publication history
[edit] Creation and conception
El Muerto's beginnings occurred sometime in the early '90s and he was originally intended to be part of a group of Mexican-American superheroes, something along the lines of a "Latino JLA". It was later that Hernandez scrapped the idea and focused mainly on the character El Muerto. The strange supernatural powers that he had planned on giving his creation were toned down and his almost feral look became gentler. Hernandez drew many of his influences from the original comics of his youth; particularly the works of Stan Lee, Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko. Successful self-published creators such as Carlos Saldaña and Richard Dominguez served as inspirations as well.[7][8] The character was greatly influenced by Mexican culture and mythology; the name Juan Diego de la Muerte was developed as a sort of play on words of Dia de los Muertos and as a nod to both Juan Diego and Diego de la Vega. The character's costume was directly inspired by the traditional mariachi garb and the Dia de los Muertos traditions.
[edit] Publication
El Muerto's first public appearance was in 1998 at the Alternative Press Expo in San Jose, CA. His debut comic was titled "Daze of the Dead: The Numero Uno Edition" and was a in a xeroxed in a black in white format which included the short story of Weapon Tex-Mex a character Hernandez had created prior to the debut of El Muerto. At the same time, Hernandez brought along his newly printed newsletter "The Border" featuring any news on subsequent issues and short comic strips. He later toured the Numero Uno Edition for a year in places like the Wondercon and San Diego Comic Con. For a time, the title was printed under an independent imprint created by Hernandez and a few close friends called Big Umbrella. Unfortunately, the imprint ran in to some financial issues and disbanded sometime in 2003. According to Hernandez:
| “ | ...[T]he straw that broke the camel's back, regarding Big Umbrella, was the fact that Diamond, the sole, national comic distributor with an exclusive contract with the national comic books direct market, chose to only carry some of the books.[9] | ” |
Despite the break-up however, the indie comic-book creators still remain close friends and often collaborate on their independent works. Currently, Javier is finishing the official sequel, "El Muerto: Dead & Confused" which will be the first issue to be featured online before put to press. In an announcement found on his website, Hernandez declared "I've seen the future and its digital...", referring to his plans to release future issues of El Muerto in a webcomic format with collected issues being printed with an option to buy. In February 2008, the comic will be celebrating its 10th anniversary. The original "Numero Uno Edition" has since been reprinted in a special "King Size Edition" which along with the follow-up book "El Muerto: Mish-Mash" is available for purchase on the official website [10].
[edit] Fictional character biography
[edit] Early life
El Muerto was born Juan Diego de la Muerte, and grew up in Whittier, California. As a small child, Diego developed a fascination with the holiday of Dia de Los Muertos after watching a film titled "Los Muertos Tambien Lloran" ("The Dead Also Cry"). The film involved a man who returns from the dead on the holiday to visit his wife. When the clock is just about to turn midnight, the man decides he could no longer bear the pain of leaving his wife again for a whole year. In an act of desperation, the man kills his wife thinking they can exist together in the afterlife. However, when she dies the man begins to wither away and turn to dust as there is no one living who can keep his memory alive. About a year after seeing the film, Diego met, Issac "Zak" Silver. Zak was also a fan of the film and developed a growing interest in the Day of the Dead along with Diego. A secret pact was made between the two and they created an "Afterlife Contract" vowing that whomever should die first will visit the other and in turn the other would keep the visitor's memory alive. The film also sparked Diego's interest in Mexican art, history, and mythology. He would spend a number of hours at Pre-Columbian museums and exhibits, learning just about everything there is to know about the subject. When Diego became older, he became an altar boy at his church and held the longest uninterrupted service record at St. Mary's. Despite his beliefs, the study of Aztec mythology often led him to question his own religion. Leading him to wonder what his Aztec ancestors thought when their ancient gods were replaced with Catholicism.
[edit] "Daze of the Dead"
Diego became 21-years-old on November 2 and wanted to have as much fun as possible- despite the fact his girlfriend of eight months had just broken up with him. Anticipating a local Dia de Los Muertos festival, Diego dons the guise of an undead Mariachi. He applies the traditional facial markings to give himself a ghoulish look and even gets a tattoo of a calavera skull on his left arm to celebrate the occasion, a inspired from an Aztec temple bearing the same design. After getting the tattoo, Diego eagerly calls his friends to see if they are to celebrate at the upcoming festival. Unfortunately, all his friends were busy on that particular night and had to "flake-out". Zak had become terribly ill but to make up for his absence lent his car to Diego for the evening. Undiscouraged, Diego planned to have the best time possible. Unbeknownst to Diego, the tattoo he marked himself with was actually an ancient Aztec symbol of death. While driving his friend's car to the festival, the vehicle is struck by lightning causing him to veer off-road and crash into a tree, killing him. He soon awakened in Mictlan to meet the Aztec god of death Mictlantecuhtli and the Aztec god of dreams Tezcatlipoca. It was there the god of death sacrificed Diego in an ancient ritual in which his heart was ripped out with an obsidian blade. Mictlantecuhtli then placed the still beating heart in a clay pot and permanently seared Diego's facial markings to his flesh. Soon after his horrific ordeal, Diego is cast back to earth via lightning bolt, exactly one year after his death. And so Diego de la Muerte was reborn as El Muerto. His costume once intended for fun was now his permanent appearance. Realizing his family and friends already mourned him, he concludes that it is best to leave his hometown and heads to Mexico, in search of answers.
[edit] Powers and abilities
[edit] Comics
Being undead, El Muerto possesses some extraordinary supernatural powers. He is nearly invulnerable, having a heightened pain threshold and a rapid regenerative healing factor. He also has super-strength and superhuman agility. A power unique to El Muerto is the ability to give life or take it away.
[edit] Film
In the live-action film adaption, El Muerto is shown to have all of his established powers in the comics, but with a few additional abilities. Throughout the film, he is shown to have form a telepathy and the ability to have a calming affect when in physical contact with another person. It is unknown whether or not these abilities will affect subsequent issues of the comic.
[edit] Other versions
[edit] Manga Muerto
Manga Muerto is an alternate version of El Muerto, one who exists in a Japanese manga-themed universe. The character made his first appearance in Hernandez's 2000 issue of The Border in a comic strip titled "You only die twice!...OR...Dial "R" For Robot". The strip introduced Diego de la Muerte as a foreign exchange student in Tokyo, Japan. While enjoying a meal of noodles, he is interrupted by the brilliant scientist Dr. Shimahara. Dr. Shimahara was forced to create a giant robot for the infamous Black Moth gang called Skeletron. He reveals to Diego that Skeletron can be voice-controlled but has a major flaw in its design; it will only respond to the voice of a dead person. Diego happily offers his services and easily defeats the Black Moth gang and their inferior robot Skullion. Manga Muerto would later return in a 2001 collaboration between Javier Hernandez and Ted Seko, entitled Super Comics Blast, which included a cross-over between Seko's own Skyman, Fusion Android and a reprint of the Skyman origin story.
[edit] In other media
[edit] Film adaptation
El Muerto was adapted into a 2007 live-action independent film starring Wilmer Valderrama as the eponymous character, Angie Cepeda as Diego's girlfriend Maria, and Joel David Moore as Zak. The film also features the performances of Tony Plana, Billy Drago, Tony Amendola, Maria Conchita Alonso, and Michael Parks. The film was written and directed by writer-director Brian Cox with Javier Hernandez acting as Associate-Producer of the film. The movie was rated PG-13 by the MPAA for violence and some disturbing images. The official premiere to the public was on March 1, 2007 at the Latino Film Festival in San Diego, California. Subsequent festival screenings included Toronto, New York, San Francisco, San Diego and Los Angeles. The film received a full-fledged theatrical premiere at Laemmle Grande Theatre on September 14, 2007[11] located at its downtown Los Angeles venue and was later screened at the first annual Whittier Film Festival where it won the Best Feature Film award.[12]
A straight-to-DVD release was distributed on September 18, 2007 by Echo Bridge Entertainment[13]. Despite being titled "El Muerto" throughout its conception and subsequent film screenings, the DVD was later re-titled "The Dead One" (the English language translation of El Muerto) for marketing purposes. The original DVD release holds several special features including; seven original illustrations by special guest artists, DVD commentary, three original featurettes, a Spanish language track, a slide-show of the original comic, a DVD-ROM feature and an exclusive mini-comic.[14] Currently, the DVD is being reissued under the film's original title, with the same special features. The possibility of a sequel is likely to depend on positive DVD sales.
[edit] References
- ^ small WORLD podcast
- ^ Flash Animation Burrito and El Muerto
- ^ JAVZILLA el muerto wins BEST FEATURE FILM award
- ^ Official Whittier Film Festival listings of 2008
- ^ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/El_Muerto_%28film%29
- ^ MySpace.com - DIEGO De La MUERTE - CALIFORNIA - www.myspace.com/thedeadonemovie
- ^ Planet Comic Book Radio - Richard Dominguez interview
- ^ Planet Comic Book Radio - Carlos Saldaña
- ^ http://www.elmuerto.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1241
- ^ ElMuerto.com - The Official Site of El Muerto, the Aztec Zombie!
- ^ El Muerto (The Dead One) at Laemmle Theatres
- ^ Whittier Film Festival- El MUERTO
- ^ The Dead One - Echo Bridge Entertainment
- ^ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/El_Muerto_%28film%29#DVD_Release
